Ricci 

A  Note  on  the  Robert  Schuhmaim 
Collection  of  Eighteenth 
Century  French  Books 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


A  Note  on 

The  Robert  Schuhmann 
Collection 

of 

Eighteenth  Century 

French  Books 


A  Note  on 
The  Robert  Schuhmann  Collection 

of 

Eighteenth  Century  French 
Books 

By 
SEYMOUR  DE  RICCI 

EDITOR  OF  THE 

Guide  de  f  Amateur  de  Ltvres  a  Gravure 
du  XV IIP  siecle 


THE 
ROSENBACH     COMPANY 

1320   WALNUT     STREET  273    MADISON    AVENUE 

PHILADELPHIA  NEW    YORK 


The 
Robert  Schuhmann  Collection 

rf 

French 
Eighteenth  Century  Books 

THE  Robert  Schuhmann  collection  of  French 
Eighteenth  Century  books,  brought  to  the 
United  States  a  few  days  ago,  is  the  most 
generally  attractive  and  pleasing  library  ever  offered 
to  American  bibliophiles.  Both  in  Europe  and  in  this 
country  the  graceful  and  refined  art  of  Madame  de 
Pompadour  and  Queen  Marie  Antoinette  is  at  the 
height  of  favour.  Never  have  the  paintings  of  Boucher 
and  Fragonard,  the  furniture  of  Oeben  and  Riesener, 
the  bronzes  of  Caffieri  and  Gouthiere,  the  marbles  of 
Pigalle  and  Houdon,  been  more  ardently  coveted  by 
collectors.  Here  is  a  complete  library  of  the  most 
beautiful  books  of  the  period,  all  in  the  choicest  con- 
dition and  in  the  handsomest  bindings,  many  from 
celebrated  old  collections  and  containing  over  five 
hundred  original  drawings  by  the  great  masters  of 
the  time. 

The  Schuhmann  books  are  to  me  old  friends.  I  well 
remember,  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  Schuh- 
mann, who  already  owned  some  fine  modern  volumes, 
bought  his  first  old  book,  an  indifferent  copy  of  the 
Fermiers  Generaux  tales  by  La  Fontaine,  in  a  rather 
tawdry  new  binding.  He  little  dreamt,  and  I  little 
thought,  that  he  would  one  day  own  the  beautiful 


877231 


The  Robert  Schuhmann  Collection 

Janze  copy  in  old  morocco  with  all  the  "rejected  plates" 
and  trial  states,  and  even  an  original  drawing  by 
Eisen. 

Gradually  his  library  grew  stronger.  One  day  was 
added  the  stately  Watteau  in  old  morocco,  probably 
the  finest  in  existence.  From  the  Daguin  sale,  came 
his  unrivalled  set  of  the  Collfction  Bleuet,  with  all  the 
etchings  and  avant-lettres.  Later  still  were  added  his 
Fables  de  La  Fontaine  illustrated  by  Oudry,  bound  in 
citron  morocco  for  Madame  Sophie,  the  daughter  of 
Louis  XV;  his  great  sets  of  original  drawings,  many 
from  Lord  Carnarvon's  beautiful  library.  Last  came 
some  of  the  Montgermont  books,  in  unequalled  condi- 
tion, and  the  gem  of  the  whole  Schuhmann  library, 
Queen  Marie  Antoinette's  own  copy  of  Dorat's  Baisers, 
the  most  celebrated  book  of  the  eighteenth  century  in 
the  most  desirable  condition  of  binding  and  prove- 
nance. 

Collectors  all  use  as  a  handbook  Cohen's  Guide  de 
¥  amateur  de  livres  a  gravures  du  dix-huitibme  sibcle, 
of  which  the  sixth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged  by 
myself,  appeared  in  1912.  As  a  basis  for  my  revision 
I  could  choose  no  better  and  fuller  general  collection 
of  eighteenth  century  books  than  the  Schuhmann 
library.  A  large  number  of  his  copies  are  quoted  in 
the  new  Cohen  with  their  full  history  and  pedigree 
and  readers  will  easily  discover  that  in  numerous 
cases  the  finest  copy  known  (sometimes  the  only  fine 
copy  known)  is  in  the  Schuhmann  collection,  which 
thus  takes  place  as  the  standard  library  of  its  kind. 


of  French  Eighteenth  Century  Books 

A  natural  question  for  any  book-collector  to  put  will 
certainly  be  the  following:  "How  does  the  Schuhmann 
library  compare  with  the  other  celebrated  collections 
of  the  world?  Are  there  any  greater  libraries  of 
French  eighteenth  century  books  ?  If  so,  how  should 
they  be  listed  by  order  of  merit  ?" 

A  careful  survey  of  the  great  European  and  American 
libraries  and  a  painstaking  valuation  of  the  individual 
qualities  of  each  one  of  them,  leads  to  the  following 
conclusion:  there  are  four  other  great  libraries  of 
eighteenth  century  books,  two  in  England  and  two 
in  France,  which  in  all  justice  can  be  compared  with 
the  Schuhmann  library.  For  none  of  these  four  would 
it  be  fair  to  claim  an  evident  superiority.  The  Fer- 
dinand de  Rothschild  collection  and  Sir  David  Salo- 
mon's library,  the  first  rich  in  old  morocco  bindings, 
the  other  so  comprehensive  and  so  complete  for  proof 
states  of  the  engravings,  both  contain  hardly  any 
original  drawings.  The  Roederer  collection  over- 
flows with  drawings,  but  the  old  morocco  bindings 
are  neither  numerous  nor  particularly  fine.  Lastly 
the  Beraldi  collection,  although  of  a  unique  quality, 
is  much  smaller  in  bulk  than  the  Schuhmann  library. 
The  most  punctilious  critic  will  therefore,  I  think, 
agree  with  me,  both  that  no  better  collection  of  the 
kind  is  known  to  exist  in  Europe  and  that  no  private  or 
public  collection  in  the  United  States  can  compare  a 
moment  with  it. 

The  Schuhmann  library  contains  all  the  important 
French  eighteenth  century  books  in  the  choicest 


The  Robert  Scbubmann  Collection 

obtainable  condition.  The  most  exacting  critics 
have  not  been  able  to  point  out  more  than  two  really 
desirable  items  which  he  had  not  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing. With  these  two  exceptions,  the  library  is  practi- 
cally complete  and  shows  what  a  remarkable  collec- 
tion could  be  made  in  Paris  in  our  days  with  a  quarter 
of  a  century  to  spare,  a  well-filled  pocketbook,  con- 
summate taste  and  judgment,  unlimited  patience, 
the  friendship  of  the  whole  of  the  book  trade  and  the 
unfailing  and  continual  assistance  of  an  eminent  Paris 
bookseller,  considered  by  his  many  admirers  to  be 
quite  at  the  head  of  his  profession. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  beautiful  condition  of 
the  Schuhmann  books.  For  French  collectors,  con- 
dition is  the  main  quality  of  a  volume  and  they  are 
exacting  in  that  respect  to  a  degree  unknown  in  Amer- 
ica. The  buyer  of  a  Columbus  letter  or  an  Eliza- 
bethan Quarto  is  already  quite  satisfied  if  his  book  is 
complete  and  fairly  clean.  Not  so  the  purchaser  of 
the  Chansons  de  Laborde.  Of  course  the  book  must 
be  perfect,  with  every  leaf  clean  and  fine  and  the 
impressions  good  and  sharp;  but  more  important 
still  is  the  binding,  which  should  be  of  the  period  and 
preferably  of  morocco;  a  book  in  old  calf  is  worth 
twice  as  much  as  in  modern  levant,  and  old  morocco 
is  worth  many  times  as  much  as  old  calf.  Even  in 
old  morocco,  there  are  grades  of  quality  and  a  coat  of 
arms  or  a  dentelle  border  enhance  tremendously  the 
merits  of  a  volume. 

Some  books,  like  the  Temple  de  Guide  or  the  Baiters 


of  French  Eighteenth  Century  Books 

de  Dorat,  are  practically  unobtainable  in  old  morocco; 
some,  like  the  works  of  Restif  de  la  Bretonne,  simply 
do  not  exist.  Schuhmann  made  the  best  of  his  op- 
portunities and  we  may  rest  assured  that  if  some  of 
his  books  are  in  modern  bindings  it  is  merely  because 
no  good  copy  in  old  morocco  has  turned  up  in  France 
for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 

He  keenly  appreciated  bindings  with  royal  and  prin- 
cely arms:  the  list  of  his  armorial  bindings  comprises 
all  the  famous  men  and  women  of  the  century,  the 
Kings  and  Queens  of  France,  Queen  Marie  Antoinette, 
the  whole  of  the  Royal  Family,  the  King's  Mistresses, 
Madame  de  Pompadour  and  Madame  Du  Barry,  and 
all  the  great  Lords  and  Ladies  of  the  day. 

More  recent  owners  include  the  most  celebrated 
bibliophiles  of  the  nineteenth  century  from  Renouard 
to  Robert  Hoe,  such  as  Count  de  La  Bedoyere,  Emman- 
uel Martin,  Guyot  de  Villeneuve,  Daguin,  Lord 
Carnarvon,  Vicomte  de  Janze,  Lebceuf  de  Montger- 
mont  and  many  others. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  Schuhmann  col- 
lection contains  over  five  hundred  original  drawings 
by  the  most  famous  book  illustrators  of  the  eighteenth 
century:  Eisen,  Gravelot,  Cochin,  Marillier,  Monnet, 
Borel,  Moreau  le  Jeune,  etc.  Hardly  any  feature  of 
the  library  will  have  a  greater  appeal  to  the  American 
bibliophile. 

French  collectors  have  been  so  jealous  of  allowing 
these  sets  of  drawings  to  leave  Europe  that  not  more 
than  three  or  four  of  any  importance  have  ever  reached 


The  Robert  Scbubmann  Collection 

this  country,  foremost  being  the  Moreau  drawings 
for  Moliere  in  the  Pierpont  Morgan  Library,  the  Fra- 
gonard  drawings  for  La  Fontaine  in  the  Schiff  collec- 
tion and  the  drawings  for  La  Pucelle  owned  by  Mr. 
Cortlandt  F.  Bishop. 

Even  in  France  they  always  have  been  extremely 
scarce  and  concentrated  into  three  or  four  hands. 
The  bulk  of  the  extant  drawings  are  in  the  libraries 
of  Baroness  James  de  Rothschild,  Mr.  Olry-Roederer, 
Mr.  Henri  Beraldi  and  in  the  Schuhmann  collection. 
Outside  of  these  four  groups  it  would  be  difficult  to 
quote  any  library  containing  more  than  one  or  two 
stray  sets  of  these  drawings. 

Foremost  among  the  series  in  the  Schuhmann  col- 
lection come  the  drawings  by  Gravelot  for  Gerusalem- 
me  Liberata,  in  a  beautiful  old  binding,  inlaid  at  the 
time  in  the  book  itself,  a  feature  of  the  scarcest  possible 
occurrence,  but  which  is  duplicated  in  the  case  of  the 
Risen  drawings  for  the  Eloge  de  la  Folie,  also  in  the 
old  morocco  binding. 

The  drawings  by  Moreau  for  the /now  are  not  numer- 
ous, but  are  the  most  beautiful  examples  obtainable  of 
his  earlier  style,  so  brilliantly  represented  in  America 
by  Mr.  Morgan's  Moliere.  Moreau's  later  style  is 
also  fully  illustrated,  especially  by  the  wonderfully 
finished  set  for  Telemaque. 

Cochin  is  at  his  best  in  the  stately  array  of  over 
eighty  wonderful  drawings  for  Tasso,  half  of  which 
are  unpublished  and  were  never  engraved.  In  1784, 
the  Comte  de  Provence,  brother  of  King  Louis  XVI, 


of  French  Eighteenth  Century 

paid  the  artist  forty  thousand  livres  for  these  drawings, 
a  price  unheard  of  in  those  days  of  cheap  living. 

Borel's  drawings  for Destouches  and  Monnet's  spirited 
designs  for  La  Pucelle  are  likewise  of  the  most  brilliant 
quality. 

Less  known,  even  to  specialists,  but  full  of  the  dainti- 
est wit,  are  the  exquisite  drawings  for  the  various 
little  volumes  of  the  Bleuet  collection,  brought  to- 
gether by  Robert  Schuhmann  at  great  difficulties  and 
with  the  expenditure  of  considerable  time  and  patience. 

His  last  purchase  was  the  admirable  series  of  draw- 
ings for  Marmontel,  the  gem  of  old  Monsieur  de  Mont- 
germont's  collection,  and  which  he  refused  to  part 
with  when  he  sold  his  library  some  ten  years  ago. 

Nothing  is  more  tedious  than  an  enumeration  and 
yet  in  what  other  way  can  an  idea  be  conveyed  of  the 
true  character  of  a  library?  If  I  gave  way  to  my  re- 
miniscences I  would  in  these  few  words  gradually 
print  a  catalogue  of  the  Schuhmann  books,  telling 
how  he  obtained  his  beautiful  Voltaire  in  old  morocco 
from  the  old  Villoutreys  family  library  near  Angers, 
how  his  unequalled  Sergent  in  red  morocco  was  dis- 
covered in  England,  how  he  got  out  of  the  Beraldi 
collection  his  great  Molitre,  one  of  two  known  copies 
in  old  morocco  with  the  complete  set  of  the  fleurons 
and  avant-lettres ,  including  the  beautiful  portrait,  how 
he  spent  many  years  in  collecting  his  coloured  views 
of  Paris  by  Janinet  and  Le  Campion,  undoubtedly 
the  finest  of  the  three  known  existing  sets,  in  what 
sale  he  bought  his  uncut  Boucher  Molitre,  and  how 


The  Robert  Scbubmann  Collection 

he  had  started  collecting  Cazin  editions  one  by  one, 
until  one  day  he  found  his  extraordinary  set  of  over 
two  hundred  volumes,  in  uniform  red  morocco  with 
the  arms  of  a  Bavarian  princess. 

The  Schuhmann  library  is  not  confined  to  eighteenth 
century  books.  The  collector  had  also  brought  to- 
gether a  few  hundred  volumes  of  an  earlier  period, 
such  as  first  editions  of  great  French  classics,  about 
a  hundred  Elzevirs  in  the  daintiest  bindings  ever  met 
with,  and  a  careful  selection  of  beautiful  bindings  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  including 
masterpieces  by  the  Brothers  Eve,  a  choice  binding 
of  Demetrio  Canevari  and  one  of  the  three  or  four 
extant  bindings  from  the  library  of  the  great  Con- 
netable  de  Montmorency,  not  to  speak  of  the  equally 
scarce  volume  with  the  arms  of  Emperor  Charles  the 
Fifth. 

Every  one  of  these  exquisite  books  will  carry  a  mes- 
sage into  the  new  home  it  will  be  called  upon  to  adorn. 
It  will  testify  to  the  exquisite  taste  of  the  talented 
artists  who  made  the  drawings  and  engraved  the 
plates,  to  the  inventive  genius  and  technical  skill  of 
the  craftsmen  who  designed  and  carried  out  the  bind- 
ings, to  the  pious  enthusiasm  of  the  various  biblio- 
philes who  preserved  them  for  our  admiration  and, 
last  but  not  least,  to  the  patience  and  judgment  of  the 
eminent  collector  who  finally  brought  them  together 
for  the  joy  of  our  eyes  and  the  glorification  of  ever- 
lasting beauty. 

SEYMOUR  DE  RICCI 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
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